Forfeiture has been contested for years, but unfortunately was ultimately supported by the Supreme Court. The reasoning is that it is a civil case against the property itself, and thus your regular rights don't apply. I do however admit that it could and probably has been used inappropriately
The number of abuses are astounding, in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions by now. The abuse is driven by the fact that most forfeited assets get to be used by the police and prosecutors (such as a personal BMW 750 to drive around in). Are you willing to let that continue so we can put an almost unnoticeable dent in the profits of the drug dealers? To them, seizure is an accounted cost of doing business, but to the rest of America it is devastating.
Well! Most of the seizures are sold at auction. Like I said it’s controversial. Question: If they found the drugs in a suitcase are they bound to return the suitcase.